Father Of Drowned Boy Plans To Return To Syria To Bury His Family

Abdullah Kurdi the Father of the little boy who was found washed up on a Turkish beach, says he no longer wants to continue on to Europe.

Kurdi lost both his sons Aylan, 3, and Galip, 5, as well as his wife Rhian as they tried to make the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece.

He plans to take their bodies back to their home town of Kobani to be buried.

The Guardian reports: Speaking outside the mortuary where the bodies of his two sons were being held, Kurdi said: “I just want to see my children for the last time and stay forever with them.”

Kurdi described what had happened on board the boat heading for Greece, saying the captain had panicked because of high waves and jumped into the sea, leaving him in control of the small craft.

“I took over and started steering. The waves were so high and the boat flipped. I took my wife and my kids in my arms and I realised they were all dead,” he told AP.

#AylanKurdi Father Abdullah tells me wants to bring his dead children home to Kobane pic.twitter.com/vQUi2jkk02

— Fergal Keane (@fergalkeane47) September 3, 2015

 Three-year-old Aylan, five-year-old Galip and their mother, Rehan, were among at least 12 people who died on the boat headed for Greece. The boat was part of a flotilla of small dinghies boarded by passengers at Akyarlar, the closest point to the Greek Aegean island of Kos.

The Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu said police had detained four suspected people smugglers thought to be linked to the tragedy. Anadolu said the four, including at least one Syrian citizen, were detained on a beach on the Bodrum peninsula and would appear in court later on Thursday suspected of acting as intermediaries for illegal crossings.